Author
Topic: Pancakes! (Read 3158 times)

OK, there's gotta be a pancake guru around here. Who is it? I'm not even gonna bother looking at any other web sites because almost every other cooking-related web site is full of it. Hungry Jack's "Complete Buttermilk" mix makes some good easy-to-make pancakes, but I want to know how to make good real pancakes, and it's just not my territory... yet.

Disclaimer: Don't necessarily believe anything I say here. My brain ain't quite right anymore (unless it is). If I come off as rude or argumentative, that's probably not my intention. Rather, that's just me being honest, to myself and everyone else; partly because I don't have enough time left to BS either you or myself. If you are offended by anything I say, it's probably because you think lying to people (to be "polite") is a good idea. I don't.

Im guilty to say I use ,"Aint Jo Momma" on the pancake box?" Just add water and mix.

Seriously,I would love to know a good home made recipe.My Mother and relatives would make the best home made stuff when I was a kid.I used to watch her get out the flour,eggs,water,and all the other things,and use the egg beater to mix the batter smooth.F'n awesome.Instant could never touch it.

Mix dry ingredients. Beat eggs, butter, and buttermilk together, and then add dry ingredients. Measurements are approximate because I usually just do it by eye. You can add more flour if it's too thin or more buttermilk if it's too thick.

I don't trust anything Alton Brown says, nor do I trust anything I hear from any other Food Network chef, particularly about pizza or anything that uses flour as the main ingredient. Alton Brown was horribly wrong about pizza in 'Flat is Beautiful,' yet he acted like he knew what he was talking about. It kept me in a pizza stalemate for a long time because I trusted him. Won't happen again.

Disclaimer: Don't necessarily believe anything I say here. My brain ain't quite right anymore (unless it is). If I come off as rude or argumentative, that's probably not my intention. Rather, that's just me being honest, to myself and everyone else; partly because I don't have enough time left to BS either you or myself. If you are offended by anything I say, it's probably because you think lying to people (to be "polite") is a good idea. I don't.

I got much better at both waffles and pancakes when I realized many years ago that the differences are greater than the similarities. My best waffle recipe makes less than satisfactory pancakes and vice-versa. In our house, it's sourdough waffles and buttermilk pancakes. And after trying dozens and dozens of pancake recipes over the years, the one we all prefer is so simple it feels like cheating:

Cool to see a lot of responses so quickly. I'm surprised this hasn't come up before. (Honestly, I didn't bother looking beyond the first page, so for all I know there may be a killer pancake thread already.)

Disclaimer: Don't necessarily believe anything I say here. My brain ain't quite right anymore (unless it is). If I come off as rude or argumentative, that's probably not my intention. Rather, that's just me being honest, to myself and everyone else; partly because I don't have enough time left to BS either you or myself. If you are offended by anything I say, it's probably because you think lying to people (to be "polite") is a good idea. I don't.

Chocolate goes real well with buttermilk pancakes too. I usually sprinkle some miniature chocolate chips on each pancake shortly after pouring it on the griddle. This way the people that don't want them don't have to have them.

Sorry to steer off topic, but I have to defend Alton! How did he go so awry on his pizza episode to you? Both the grilled episode, Flat is Beautiful II, and original one you mentioned, Flat is Beautiful, seemed like a legitimate style of making pizza. Not my style, but maybe for some none-the-less. I thought they turned out pretty good, although I do disagree with the stone being on the very bottom of the oven.

I've always used the taste of home recipe out of their cookbook, but we like to subsitute coconut milk for the buttermilk. It gives them a little something extra and sets them apart from standard pancakes.

Add milk to vinegar stir and let sit 5 minutes (While prepping dry ingredients) mix dry ingredients and add soured milk, egg and butter, mix till incorporated. I mix the last 20 seconds on a really high speed to get air into the mix (In theory)

I've tried sourdough pancakes and I'm sure if you have a good active starter that you're familiar with you'll get good results.

There is an old thread about pancakes on the forum that I will dig up later if someone doesn't beat me to it. I haven't had the chance to try any of the recipes yet as I have only just begun my journey.

My two attempts were based on a foodwishes.com recipe for old fashioned pancakes, except I was raised with half buckwheat (not always 50% but appx) so I tweaked for the addition of some buckwheat.

It's an Earth food. They are called Swedish meatballs. It's a strange thing, but every sentient race has its own version of these Swedish meatballs! I suspect it's one of those great universal mysteries which will either never be explained, or which would drive you mad if you ever learned the truth.

Today I decided to try Steve's pancake recipe from this post: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,392.msg27220.html#msg27220. Using his recipe, the batter was way thicker than I wanted it, so I made one change, adding two extra ounces of buttermilk. I originally measured everything by either volume or quantity, then I weighed each ingredient that was heavy enough to register on my scale (so I could convert the volumetric measurements to bakers' percents).

As weird as that looks, I think it's right. Not 100 percent sure, though.

My objective is to learn how to make pancakes that are good enough to sell at a restauant (that has customers). These didn't come close. They weren't bad, but I'd be very dissatisfied if a restaurant served me pancakes like this. The Hungry Jack "Complete" pancakes are considerably better than these. However, these were probably better than pancakes I made from Bisquick recently. (Of course, I thought the Bisquick pancakes were very bad, so comparing them to Bisquick doesn't say much.)

The baking soda didn't do much of anything, which means these pancakes were essentially unleavened. The color and texture weren't what I was looking for, either.

Obviously I would not suggest using this recipe/formula for pancakes. I don't know if I'm going to try to use this as a base for future pancake experiments, though. If I do, I'll probably add a considerable amount of baking powder and maybe some sugar, too. Don't ask me why because I don't know yet. I took a couple pictures, but I'm not going to take the time to upload them unless people ask me to.

Disclaimer: Don't necessarily believe anything I say here. My brain ain't quite right anymore (unless it is). If I come off as rude or argumentative, that's probably not my intention. Rather, that's just me being honest, to myself and everyone else; partly because I don't have enough time left to BS either you or myself. If you are offended by anything I say, it's probably because you think lying to people (to be "polite") is a good idea. I don't.

I tried Steve's recipe on Saturday. After mixing them up, the batter was very thin. I ended up adding about another 1/4 c of flour to thicken them up a bit. They rose considerably in the pan, but were not very fluffy. They tasted good, but not as fluffy as I like my pancakes. However, some homemade blackberry jam spruced them up quite a bit.

"The 1954 recipe is a little confusing the way it's written.I've attempted to translate it to 2004 English:Mix 1 quart buttermilk with 1 oz. baking soda. Set aside.

Disclaimer: Don't necessarily believe anything I say here. My brain ain't quite right anymore (unless it is). If I come off as rude or argumentative, that's probably not my intention. Rather, that's just me being honest, to myself and everyone else; partly because I don't have enough time left to BS either you or myself. If you are offended by anything I say, it's probably because you think lying to people (to be "polite") is a good idea. I don't.

If you would you describe your ideal pancake, I think I could help.Also are you wanting a scratch recipe or are you wanting to know how to manipulate a mix?Either way, I think I could be able to help. I have more pancake recipes and techniques than one individual should have.

Logged

The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.They say he acquired his size from eating too much pi.

1, I like buttermilk (if buttermilk used then so should baking soda) sourdough is also a hit2, MUST be aluminum free baking powder. (this was covered a while back) If you don't think there's a difference, try a small batch of each and tell me the regular baking powder one doesn't taste metalic. Could probably just do a wet finger dip in each can and taste the difference. Really no need for the aluminum one when the one without works great.3, I like some riced baked potato mixed into the batter with some fine dice sautee'd onion4, For me just butter and S&P on mine with a couple over easy eggs on top. Any syrup is served on the side for an occasional dip, same thing with french toast

« Last Edit: April 29, 2012, 03:38:18 AM by Jackitup »

Logged

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” -Mark Twain

If you don't think you're getting what you should out of life.....maybe you're getting what you deserve -the Root Beer Lady

ps....Also like some diced tart apple mixed in sometimes, then add a bit of sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, just a touch. And back to the syrup, if I use it, REAL maple syrup has NO substitute. My wife agrues this, for some reason she likes that fake auntie's and log cabin crap :-(Jon

« Last Edit: April 29, 2012, 07:31:17 AM by Jackitup »

Logged

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” -Mark Twain

If you don't think you're getting what you should out of life.....maybe you're getting what you deserve -the Root Beer Lady